Hooray! It’s almost time for school! We go back to “decorate” our classroom on the 14th of August and school starts the following Monday! I am way too excited about this and I know that I should be saying “SUMMER WENT BY TOO FAST!!!” I’m not though! I am so eager to get to know my new class and smell all the brand new supplies and help them ALL pass the FCAT test! This post is to show you what I decided to give to my students for the reading log folder. As you already know...I LOVE making projects but today contained none of my fancy schmancy machines that I own. Today I used shipping (packaging) tape, 25 one color folder (I chose blue), glue stick, and a color printer ( I chose Office Depot to print-I don’t have a color printer.

I will give you step by step directions on how to create this masterpiece!

Step 1. Buy the folders, print the document, and have a glue stuck ready.

Step 2. Glue the paper corners (or the middle) just so its enough and paste it to the front of the folder.

Step 3. Cut the shipping (packaging) tape to the size of the folder. Then paste it to the folder. The tape will act as a laminator instead of running the folder through a laminator. This will ensure that the folder will stay firm throughout the year that the students will be able to transport the folder every day to and from work.

I place the reading logs that was posted here and put it inside of the folder.

Have I mentioned that I am Do It Yourself teacher? I love buying new machines and creating magnificent things for my classroom. I currently have one cricut, one laminator, and two xyron sticker creator, and one amazing paper cutter. My newest creation is tabs for notebooks. This year, we are doing “Lucy Calkins Writing Workshop,” and I went to her conference in June and it was truly amazing. I cannot wait to incorporate this into my classroom. One thing that they had us do was create tabs using post-its in composition notebooks. YES! That is great! Then after using it for one week straight and eight hours a day...they start to wear/fall off. Uh Oh...How in the world can I create better tabs in a notebook instead of post its? Also, is there a way that I can create a tab to use for my reading progress monitoring, writing progress monitoring, and math progress monitoring binders? I really don’t want to buy 3 packs of 8 tabs for $3.00 a pack! I felt my piggy bank break! :( Then I was playing on Pinterest and saw someone create their own sticky notes. Unfortunately, I cannot find out who pinned it so thank you for giving me the inspiration and allowing me to modify it for my needs! :) I will walk you through the stages of what I did, and hopefully you can make it for your needs/wants!

Step 1. Create the document on your computer, If you are using a hole punch then I suggest you make it just as big as the hole punch. I created 3 circles on one row, and then three on the next. I was not sure if I could fit three rows so I left it at two. I printed out the pages and then placed the post-it notes on top of where the circles are.

Step 2. Once you have put the post it notes nicely on the paper as seen above...re print it. Use the paper that you have just put the post its on to run through the printer. It will print exactly the same thing that was underneath it.

Step 3. Remove the post-it from the printed paper. Then take the post-it and do one of two things. One-Use scissors and cut it (which takes eons,,,well it seems like eons). Two- Get an amazing hole punch (like me) and make sure you can see what you’re cutting and punch away. I bought the ek 2.25 large circle. I then flipped it over and was able to see what I was punching and then I had it punched and ready for the next step!

Step 4. Now...you could totally just put the post-it note on the paper and then you are done! You could also take a glue stick and glue one half of the circle and then hold it down on the paper. This will make sure that you definitely have it down! Unfortunately, I am not like that. I like to have it secure to the paper and use my really fun machines that I have! I ended up putting it through the Xyron Create-A-Sticker machine.

Step 5. I then took the sticker and cut the back in half. This allowed me to paste it firmly on the paper. I separated them out so that I could see each one. I like being able to see it all. This binder is what I will be using for my monitoring. I made one for each subject. The time frame was about an hour each binder. I think that by the time I got to my 3rd (and final) binder...It was like 45 minutes but I probably got it done!

Side note!!

Today, I created more but instead of using post it notes...I used a very light scrapbook paper (not cardstock!). I then was able to (dare I say it...?) glue it down! I know I am against the gluing of anything but my students will be inserting this into their writing notebook and I needed something that they will be able to access (without destroying anything) for the first day of school!

I know that I am being a complete bum this summer by enjoying the pool and watching TV on those rainy days. Today...is an indoor day! As I sit here, I watch Men In Black (the first) and I watch my puppy run around and cause havoc all around the apartment. I try to type this to you... and she sits on the keyboard. My little one discovered toilet paper today. Below is a picture of her enjoying it very very much.

As I was laying in bed last night, trying to sleep (even though I knew it wouldn’t happen for about 30 minutes) i thought of the new books that I bought earlier in the day. Then I started to think about how will I be able to ensure that my students are enjoying the new books that I bought? Well...why not have them log it? Every night they have to read 20 minutes. Now, I can have a folder where they can jot down the answer to the question of the week. It will help them master the skill and the following week will contain a different question. Next year, our state will have a test regarding response to reading, Why not start early with this class? I posted earlier this summer titled Stars.

This document will allow the students to respond to what they have read during the Daily 5. This will allow them to have higher order thinking. (LOVE) With the reading logs for home, I can see them grow but they will also be able to see themselves grow. I placed a spot at the bottom called "My GRL this week is:___". I created this so that the students can see themselves grow. It will not just say that I have seen them grow but they can see themselves grow. Their parents have to sign saying they agree that they have read and the student also has to sign saying that it is correct.

I hope that this will be able to help you trace your students writing and reading. This document contains 40 weeks (pages)of Reading Journal Logs. Each week has a different question for Reading Response. In my classroom, I make a copy of each page (front & back) to save paper and then punch holes in it. Then I take it and place it in a 3 ring folder and the students can use this all year. Every Friday, I collect it and then I use it as part of the reading and writing development.

The pictures above show the cover the reading journal and Week 8 of the reading log. You can find this document at TN store. I hope you enjoy this throughout the year!

I {love} to write on the marker board! I love using Expo Markers....or the newest thing the Dry Erase Crayons! I am enjoying the crayons very much and cannot wait to use them everyday in the classroom! In my classroom, I only have one 18 foot marker board. It sounds GIGANTIC but it is not. Unfortunately, my projector screen takes up 9 feet of the board. Did I mention that it is directly in the center of the board so I have 4.5 feet on the left side, and 4.5 on the right side. Then I try to use about 2 feet for homework and it becomes a board with no room to write when all I want to do is write on the marker board.

With that... I present my newest creation! My creation came from a colleague who works 8 feet from me. I get to poke my head into her room to say hello! As I usually do, I stay in her room to see how the lessons are going. We like to see how our students react because I had an ESE room and she was ELL. It intrigued us how differently the students learned. While poking around in her room, I saw a marker board that contained that nights homework. I {loved} the idea of having the homework on a marker board that was only 3 feet by 4 feet. I can easily put it up on the board and move it when I need the board!

Although, my colleague wrote on the board the subjects and then the homework...I decided that I wanted to modify it a little bit. I wanted to be able to have the homework listed with the subjects and that it will match my classroom.

In case you haven't heard... my theme in my classroom is Dr. Seuss with black, and red colors! This will go so well with my color theme! I am so excited!

I {love} Pinterest. I feel that as a teacher, it has helped introduce many different things into my classroom! There are many things that I discovered from Pinterest. One is that I should do exit slips. This will show me what my students learned, and if they need help with something, they can easily write it here without feeling embarassed. While pinning, I found a pin that shows that you can go to Home Depot to cut your composition notebooks in half. I was still struggling at this point on wasting so much paper for my exit slips that I instantly got an idea!! What if... now hear me out... what if I cut the composition notebooks and create an awesome cover on the front and have the students write their exit slips. So, I did just that. I went to Home Depot and got my notebooks cut. I decided this year to make my theme correlate with the colors of the classroom. I am putting up black, red, and (some) white on the 5 bulletin boards in my classroom and the theme is Dr. Seuss. This will all make sense in a moment. So I decided to find a quote from Dr. Seuss and print it on red card stock and mod podge it to the notebook. The front is the picture that has the front of the composition notebook. My quote for Dr. Seuss is so that students are allowed to think in my classroom. I also wanted to keep a reminder for them, about what they need to do every day inside of their notebooks. I will allow my students to write what they do not know, or what they totally got! Which is why I included the gloat part. Everyday, the students will fill this out and I can check in on it on a daily basis. If the students are struggling, this will be there way of informing me. I hope this can help anyone that wants an exit slip! Happy Pinning!

Two weeks ago, I went to a week long writing conference. It was a Lucy Calkin's conference and I learned so much. One of the main things that I realized, was that when I have to confer with my students, I do not have a starting point. Now... I DO!!! I really wanted to be able to document what my students have done for every conference and I focused on the 4 subjects that our school focuses on. Focus, Organization, Support, and Convention.

This can be used for many other grades but it is geared for 4th grade. You can get this document for $1.00 at my {TeachersNotebook} store. If you need me to change anything (the grade) or anything else, or even add to one of the boxes, then please email me and I can have it to you with your changed documents.